Lubricating oil emulsion



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Patented llnlly 2T, ll2@.

UNTTED STATES ihwdflbfi PATENT @TFTCB MORTTZ JOSEPH HIEITMANN, 01EPOTSCHAPPEL, NEAR DRESDEN, GERMANY.

LUBRICATING 01L EMULSION.

Ho Drawing. Application filed December 19, 1923, Serial No. 681,618, andin Germany December 28, 1922.

The well-known lubricating oil emulsions, which are rich in oil, containin addition to lubricating oil and water special emulsifying substances,which are soluble in water, such as soap, ammoniacal solutions ofseaweed jelly, lime water and potash solution. The addition of theseemulsifying agents renders the lubricating oil emulsion more or lessalkaline. The addition of soap, lime and potash causes an increase inthe ash constituents in the same. The addition of seaweed jelly and thelike increases the percentage of easily coking substances.

In all cases, in which lubricating oil emulsions, which are rich in oil,may be used in place of pure lubricating oils they fulfil their purposethe better the more stable they are. For this reason it has hitherto notbeen possible to avoid the use of emulsi-' fying agents, which aresoluble in water, for making lubricating oil emulsions that are asstable as possible. "While it has been proposed to mix intimately aboutequal parts of lubricating'oil and water without the use of anemulsifying agent and to use the mixture for the most Varied lubricatingpurposes, such for instanceas the lubrication of turbines, this proposalis of no use for general purposes, as such mixtures of lubricating oiland water readily separate again and it becomes impossible to lubricatethe machine parts uniformly. For lubricating turbines lubricantscontaining water are entirely useless.

The subject of the present invention is a new lubricating oil emulsion,which contains no foreign additions, that is, consists only of oil andwater, and is stable in a high degree. Lubricating oils, for instancemineral oils and tar oils suitable for lubricating purposes, includingtar fat oil, crude tar oil, producer tar oil, are exposed before theemulsion is made to the action of electric discharges.

The electrical discharge treatment can be conducted at ordinary orraised temperature, but at considerably below the-boiling point of theoil, and may be efiected with an alternating or direct current. Theelectrical treatment may temperature somewhat. 7

It has alreadybeen proposed to treat mineral oils, to which are addedvegetable or animal oils, by subjecting them to the action of electricdischarges, for the purpose of increasing the viscosity of the oils. Itwas in many cases raise the.

Emulsions of oil and water without the addition of emulsifying agents,which are soluble in water, are already known. They contain anemulsifying agent, which is soluble in oil and consists of gel-atinizeddryiog oil, which is obtained by blowing, and are water in oilemulsions, which are used for painting, printing and impregnatingpurposes. Tn contradistinction to these emulsions, the present inventionrelates to lubricating oil emulsions made with the lubrieating oilsobtained by the action of electrical discharges.

The oil may be electrically'treated in the following manner: Oil isintroduced into a vessel in .which are a plurality of rotatableelectrodes separated by a dielectric. The vessel'is filled with hydrogenat a subatmospheric pressure. The electrodes are subjected to apotential ranging between 4300 and 4600 volts at 500 cycles per second,and a current intensity of 19 to 23 amperes. This current varies withthey pressure in the apparatus. The oil in the chamber is caused totrickle over the electrode surfaces by the rotation thereof. The oil iskept at a temperature of between 60 and degrees. The electricaldischarges arising from the individual electrode plates convert therotating electrodes which are covered with oil into a flame roll of roseviolet color. The oil falling onto and trickling over the electrodes issubjected to the electrical oscillations pre-' viously mentioned. ,Theoil, after it has been subjected to this type of electrical treatment,is then treated as below.

The new lubricatin instance be produced in the following manner:

In a steam jet apparatus the oil is brought in .contact with watervapour, the oil is atomized and the steam and oil mixture oil emulsioncan for escaping from the apparatus is deposited. The oil used for thispurpose is preliminarily subjected to the action of electricaldischarges, for the purpose of making it capable of being emulsifiedwithout the aidof emulsifying agents, which are soluble in oil. Insteadof using the oil, the Whole of Which has been subjected to preliminaryelectric treatment, a mixture of such oil the prelimitreatment of whichmay have been car-v nar ried somewhat further, with other oil, may beused.

other. apparatus and methods of treatment, by which an intimate mixtureof oil ween'ea and Water is obtained, may be used for making theemulsion from the oil, which has been preliminarily treated byelectrical discharges, and water.

What I claim is An emulsion of a hydrocarbon oil and water, saidhydrocarbon oil having been preliminarily treated by electricaldischarges, which emulsion is free of substances other than such treatedoil and water, and is stable.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

MORITZ JOSEPH HEITMANN.

